App puts beginners in the picture

Mavis Mullins

Primary ITO and Wool Systems have teamed up to develop an innovative approach for supporting learning in the wool industry.

"We've developed an app that's comprised of three parts: a multi-angle shearing video, a shearing logbook and an entertaining woolhandling game," says Robert McCrone from Primary ITO, who was involved in the app's creation.

"We wanted to engage our trainees by utilising new technology. We also know that people in our industry are constantly moving, which is what spurred us on to investigate the option of an app."

The app features an interactive video that provides a view of shearing positions from multiple angles. "Apart from actual in-person training it's difficult to show the correct shearing positions in detail.

"For example, a simple diagram or video of a sheep being shorn will not properly identify the positioning of the shearer's knees.

"The goal of the video is to show this highly complex task that involves several manoeuvres and body positions."

A comparison video allows users to compare shearing styles and positions with those of an expert. This provides the ability to record or use a video of themselves shearing a sheep and then view it side-by-side next to the professional shearing video. Trainees can then compare techniques and body positioning in order to hone certain aspects of their technique.

The Work Log Book has been developed to help learners record their experiences, including the place, dates and duration of the time spent shearing. This is useful for those who need to complete set hours as part of their training, or who wish to note their experiences if they later wish to communicate this when applying for future roles.

The app also features a wool-handling game to help users identify the correct parts of a fleece and then, sort it. "Books with large amounts of text are generally not the best way to get this information across to our trainees. So we devised an engaging, yet educational, game that requires users to use their finger on the phone to slide certain parts of the fleece into the correctly labelled fadge.

"The aim of the game is to try to stay ahead of the incoming fleeces and last for as long as possible as the difficulty increases," Robert says.

"It was about having some technology for this sector that we could migrate into a real training record. The app is the perfect match for our people because they all have smartphones and it's a transient industry.

"Primary ITO is committed to the wool-harvesting industry, and the future of education in the sector. As well as a fun and interactive way to engage our trainees, this app resource will be linked directly to the learning outcomes of our new training programmes."

Mavis Mullins, from Wool Systems, says the app will develop over time and "so far we've been very happy with the uptake".

* The Wool Systems app is freely available for both iPhone or Android devices (search 'wool systems') or you can visit woolsystemsapp.com/

* If you're interested in enrolling or finding out more about Primary ITO's shearing, woolhandling and pressing workshops, call 0800 20 80 20 to speak to a training adviser.